Childhood
by abetternameneeded
Summary: Alice and Robin talk about their childhoods. Promt: Stacey Dawe "Robin would find hook too permissive, alice would find zelena a cruel parent"(paraphrasing bc don't remeber your exact wording.)


Robin and Alice laid on the grass. Alice's shoes had been tossed aside in favor of being able to feel the soft, damp green substance as much as possible. She took and found joy in the smallest of things. The quietest song of a bird she could hear more clearly. The tickle of the wind she could feel against her skin. The colors of the sky that seemed so much more vivid from the ground. The sun dancing across it but staying in her line of sight so much longer than it used to. The feel of the warmth in its glow. The fact Robin was sitting right next to her and could hear every word she said and actually respond, unlike the toys she had spent so long speaking to wishing they could give her better answers. That last one was her favorite right now.

"This is nice," Robin told her. "That one looks like a rabbit." Robin pointed at a cloud that did in fact look like a small rabbit. Like the ones Alice had chased to various realms.

"You're right. Did you do this a lot back home?"

Robin shook her head. "No. I was too busy stealing cops cars and borrowing my aunt's spell book. You?" Robin didn't always think about the fact Alice had had what one could only call an unconventional childhood.

"Sometimes? Kind of. The clouds didn't stay where I could seem for too long. But I did watch the stars a lot. Papa," Alice paused for a moment. The happy memory was mixed with more pain than she wanted to deal with. Papa. The person who had made sure that even when she was a prisoner in their own home, she was _happy_. And he couldn't be anywhere near her. She missed his hugs. His comforting words. Honestly she missed everything about it was okay. Or as okay as it could be. The smallest amounts of tears threatened to escape her eyes.

"It's okay," Robin told her gently rubbing circles on her back. "I know. I know youu miss him. He misses you too. You'll find a cure, eventually."

"He taught me how to tell what day it was by where the stars were in the sky."

Alice sat up. Robin followed her lead and sat up as well.

"That's actually really cool. Seems fun."

"Aye it was. What'd you do for fun as a kid?"

"Well, if my mom wasn't looking I climbed trees sometimes."

Alice wasn't sure why that needed to be done without Zelena noticing but they continued the conversation despite her confusion.

"I wanted to do that when I was little, and couldn't. But I did climb on some of the furniture. I knocked over a plant at one point."

"You did _what?_ I would have been in so much trouble. My mom would have grounded me for weeks!" Robin let out a slight laugh from her shock.

"Why? I was just playing. And no one got hurt. I don't even think I got hurt, actually."

"So how did your dad react?" Robin was curious. From the stories she had heard so far, Hook was not at all a strict parent. He cared about Alice and tried to make her happy in a bad situation.

"He just told me to be careful. Explained that if I was going to climb on things to not knock them over."

"Like I said, my mom would have been beyond pissed if I climbed on the furniture. Also you're not very careful"

Robin thought maybe Hook had been far too willing to let things go but would never say even one word against him to Alice. She cared about her papa and was already unfairly forced away from him so Robin wouldn't pollute the memories Alice had of him with anything negative. Those memories and his letters were the only piece of the father she had been so close to, and Robin wouldn't destroy that.

"Really? I can be" Alice defended, as if she didn't have some story of her latest adventure stored in her mind ready to regale Robin with during their next date. "What's grounded, anyway?"

"It's when you're not allowed to leave the house for a certain amount of time, pretty much."

Alice's eyes went wide. This was potentially not the best description to use when explaining it to someone who had been litterally trapped by magic for over half of her life.

"That's awful!"

"It's not anywhere near as bad as it sounds, Alice." Robin knew it sounded horrible to Alice but it wasn't

And while it wasn't that didn't comfort Alice much at all. She was used to being forced to stay somewhere because of a magical barrier that her own mother,who she never called that, had abandoned her behind.

"Why would your mom do that? She seemed nicer than that."

"Alice, she is. She only ever grounded me when I'd actually done something wrong. It was never like what happened to you. It's okay."

"It's wrong." Alice didn't like the thought that anyone could do this. "Isn't it?"

"No, because it only lasted a few days. And I still went to school during it. It really was not that bad."

Alice nodded. "Oh. Your mom sounds quite strict, actually."

Robin nodded. "I guess so. I was quite rebellious, though so can't say I blame her."

And that was the end of the conversation. They went back to watching the clouds and pointed out which ones looked like various animals and then carrier on with their days.


End file.
